Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Three hundred years ago, the people in and around Salem, Massachusetts were engaged in the most massive witch hunt in American history. Authorities arrested over 150 suspects from more than two dozen towns, juries convicted twenty-eight, and nineteen were hanged (Aronson, 2003, p. 5). Contemporaries of the tragedy grappled with Satan's role in the affair. Embracing the reality of witchcraft, many wondered if the Devil had not manipulated the people of New England into an orgy of destructive accusations. With the passing of the participants, researchers began to discount a satanic role and sought instead to assign blame to human agents for the tragedy.In this paper we'll discuss the events related to Salem Witch Trials and analyze historical, social and economic factors which contributed to those events. This research is aimed to prove that there were several reasons for persecution of Salem witches such as the desire of New England clergy to create true Christian church, the assertion of male power, superstitious beliefs of people and their inability to explain natural phenomena, and slow development in the field of medicine and incapability to determine causes of certain illnesses.1. Historical Conditions1.1. Early American Witchcraft BeliefsIn the seventeenth century people automatically assumed that their difficulties had a supernatural explanation. Floods, thunder, lightning, hailstorms, hurricanes, earthquakes, and comets were considered the harbingers of illness or destruction. Curses, spells, and the evil eye, most believed, could cause harm. Reports of strange dreams, visions, unseen voices, and prophecies circulated frequently (Aronson, 2003, p. 14). In England, practitioners of magic, men and women who sought to manipulate supernatural powers, abounded. Rich and poor alike consulted cunning folk to recover lost property, to discover a cure for illness, for help in finding missing family members or livestock, for advice in making personal and business decisions, or to identify witches.New Englanders were engaged in fortunetelling; carefully read almanacs for astronomical data essential to the practice of astrology; read about and pursued the mysteries of alchemy; and a few boasted about their knowledge of the occult (Levack, 1987, p. 65).1.2. Condemnation of witchcraft by ChurchReligious and secular authorities in Catholic and Protestant regions grew concerned about an organized cult of witches. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull condemning witchcraft as heresy, the exercise of supernatural powers obtained through a demonic pact. Two years later, with papal approval, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, Dominican inquisitors, published the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), the first major treatise on witchcraft beliefs (Levack, 1987, p. 11). By the early seventeenth century, works on witchcraft beliefs collectively offered a picture of a secret society of Devil-worshiping witches. Despite the efforts of writers like Margaret Murray, Montague Summers, and Jeffrey B. Russell to prove the existence of such cults, recent scholarship has demonstrated that no organized society of witches ever developed (Levack, 1987, p.12).2. Profile of the Individuals Accused in Witchcraft2.1 GenderWomen comprised almost eighty percent of those accused, making gender the most significant characteristic (Karlsen, 1987, p. 41). Moreover, approximately half of the males accused had direct involvement with accused women as friends, supporters, or kin (Karlsen, 1987, p. 47). Karlsen concluded that "most witches in New England were middle-aged or old women eligible for inheritances because they had no brothers or sons." (1987, p. 117). As such, "they stood in the way of the orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another." (Karlsen, 1987, p.116). As land became more scarce in the more settled communities, men began to resent these women who had access to it through a demographic accident. The resentment was expressed in witchcraft accusations. "Whether as actual or potential inheritors of property, as healers or tavern-keepers or merchants," Karlsen argued, "most accused witches were women who symbolized the obstacles to property and prosperity." (1987, p. 217).There are no completely satisfactory explanations for the preponderance of women among the accused. They obviously lived in a male-dominated culture. Men held political and religious power, controlled most property, and were the acknowledged heads of households (Levack, 1987, p. 48). Such circumstances make it tempting to view the accused as women who challenged "prescribed gender arrangements." (Karlsen, 1987, p.119). This would make them the targets of a misogynist culture unwilling to tolerate females who were assertive, economically independent, or reluctant to defer to men; in short, individuals who had refused to accept their place in the traditional social order. There are, however, several problems with such an explanation.Little evidence exists that English culture in the seventeenth century experienced "generalized" conflict or hostility between the sexes on either side of the Atlantic. In addition, although men filed most of the charges of witchcraft against women, many came from other women. These might have been women who shared a distrust or dislike of nonconforming women. More likely, such considerations played little or no role in their charges; women accused other women because they sought to punish those causing harm in their community. Finally, according to one survey of seventeenth-century material, "no colonist ever explicitly said why he or she saw witches as women." (Karlsen, 1987, p.153). Perhaps the tendency to single out women reflected the seventeenth-century assumption that women were morally and intellectually inferior to men and as a consequence were less able to resist Satan.2.2. Age and WealthAge and wealth were also significant factors in witchcraft accusations. The young seldom had to fear suspicion or formal charges. The overwhelming majority of the accused were over forty. While older women of all levels of New England society might be accused, a higher proportion came from the ranks of the poor, but not the very poor (Aronson, 2003, p. 79).2.3 ReputationMany of the accused witches shared unsavory reputations. Some were known for their contentious behavior (Aronson, 2003, p. 88). For example, during Elizabeth Morse's trial, several witnesses testified to heated confrontations with her. Also, like Morse, the accused often revealed special healing powers. It had become commonplace by the late seventeenth century for people to suspect spiteful, poor, older women of being witches. A witness of a witch hunt in Chelmsford, England, contended that villagers had come to suspect "every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a squint eye, a squeaking voice, or a scolding tongue, a skull cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, a dog or cat by her side." (Burr, 1914, p. 78).3. Life in Salem VillageSalem is one of the larger towns along the Bay of Massachusetts. Englishmen came there in 1626 (Aronson, 2003, p. 57). For years many other Puritans migrated from the mother country. A group of settlers decided to set up west of Salem. This area was known as Salem Village. They felt they had not very much in common with Salem and the village made its own parish (Aronson, 2003, p. 58).By 1692 the people of Salem Village had become familiar with a wide range of occult beliefs. They understood the powers of the Devil and that God chose, at times, to release this prince of evil on his chosen people. Their fears of witchcraft centered on the harm witches could cause the people and property dear to them. Should a disagreement with an older woman of low repute be followed by some mishap, most assumed that she was responsible for their hardships. Some responded with countermagic, countercharms, or white magic, but others chose a more cautious approach. They called upon physicians, for example, if the afflictions seemed the result of illness (Aronson, 2003, p. 123). Yet medical specialists inevitably concluded that no physical explanation sufficed, that witchcraft had produced the suffering. Complaints to judicial authorities followed. Officials arrested and examined the suspects, and neighbors provided evidence of the accused bad temper and attributed mishaps to their occult powers. The afflicted often charged that they had seen the "shape" of the suspect doing harm, and few would stand in their defense (Aronson, 2003, p. 140).4. The Accusers4.1. Cotton MatherCotton Mather was a respected clergyman in Puritan Massachusetts. He believed that certain people used magic to help the Devil do his evil work. Most colonial New Englanders felt this way. He did warn that the evidence against a person suspected of using black magic needed to be weighed carefully. There is always the chance that an innocent person might be accused of witchcraft (Levack, 1987, p. 76).4.2. Samuel ParrisThe people of Salem Village elected Rev. Samuel Parris to be the pastor. He was only 25 years old at this time in 1689 and had no experience as a clergyman (Levack, 1987, p. 133). Most of his sermons were about good and evil. Many of the people were fighting between themselves about the new generation of New Englanders and how they were less God fearing and thought that God might let bad deeds happen to punish them.4.3. Accusations BeginIn 1692 Elizabeth Parris, Rev. Parris's 9-year-old daughter, and Abigail Williams, his 12-year-old niece, started to have fits that were uncontrollable (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 63). Then 11 year old Anne Putman, daughter of Thomas Putman, Samuel Parris's supporter, and her cousin 17 year old Mary Walcott started having the same type of fits.The local Doctor, William Griggs, was brought in to decide just what was wrong with them. Because he could not find anything physicial wrong with them, he claimed it was the result of "bewitchment" (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 63). Now all the adults were pressuring the children to tell them who cast the spell on them. After a lot of pressure the first two girls named the witches that were tormenting them.5. The Witches5.1. Sarah Osburn, Sarah Good and TitubaThe first one accused of being a witch was Samuel Parris's slave, Tituba. The second woman was Sarah Good, a woman of "ill repute" and the third woman was Sarah Osburn, who was old and always sick and did not go to church because of her bad health. On March 1, 1691, warrants were sent out for these three to be questioned by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, the magistrates (Burr, 1914, p. 80). They questioned the three women in the Salem Village Meeting House.Where Sarah Good had denied knowledge of the Devil and Sarah Osborne had made only a grudging admission of contact with the occult, Tituba provided a richly textured story of witchcraft in Salem Village. Her responses reflected many of the familiar images from the lore of occult beliefs. Her examination extended well into the afternoon and no doubt held the villagers in rapt attention.Tituba maintained that there were four other witches active in the village -- Good, Osborne, and two women she did not know from Boston. It remains difficult to explain Tituba's extraordinary testimony. Unlike Good and Osborne, perhaps she sought only to please her listeners and willingly followed wherever John Hathorne's questions led her. On the other hand, she may have done so out of fear of her master. The author of one contemporary account contended that Tituba said afterward that Parris beat her until she confessed and named her "sister-witches." (Calef, 1700, p. 343). Given the vivid imagery in her testimony, we may, also, conclude that Tituba may have been describing hallucinations resulting from her occult experiences as a fortuneteller.5.2. The confessions of the other witchesMather and Parris had focused upon the imminent threat of a satanic plot because of the incredible confessions heard in an increasing number of examinations of suspects in late summer. For those who attended the proceedings from mid-July through the first week of September, or for those who heard about them, the enormity of the conspiracy emerged in startling clarity. Dozens of women, men, and children enthralled stunned spectators with details of an extraordinary scheme. They heard how the Devil had recruited a substantial following, called witch meetings, celebrated mock sacraments, and planned to destroy Christendom.Several of the confessors described the Devil as a cunning black man who had approached them at a vulnerable time in their lives (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 65). Individuals with frustrated love lives attracted the Devil's attention. Mercy Wardwell had been disconsolate because "people told her that she should never hath such a young man who loved her."(Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p.783). Convinced that they were right, Mercy did not return the young man's advances, and "he finding no encouragement [from her] threatened to drown himself." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 783). Rebecca Eames grew despondent over an adulterous relationship "she was then in such horror of conscience that she took a rope to hang herself and a razor to cut her throat." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 282). Mary Toothaker was terrified by the repeated rumors of Indian attacks. In the spring of 1692, she "was under great discontentedness & troubled with fear about the Indians, & used often to dream of fighting with them."(Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 767).Whatever their personal problems, the Devil promised to resolve them. The unfaithful Rebecca Eames contended that he had assured her that "she should not be brought out or even discovered" if she would join him (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 282). To most, however, the Devil offered material rewards for their allegiance: "fine clothes" for Mary Bridges, Jr., Hannah Post, and Sarah Wardwell; and Sarah Hawkes "should have what she wanted." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p.135). Elizabeth Johnson and Mary Marston anticipated "happiness & joy." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, 502). Mary Toothaker would no longer have to worry about Indian attacks; and Mary Lacey, Jr., expected "crowns in Hell."(Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p.768).Joining the Devil, according to the confessors, involved two important rituals -- signing his covenant and being baptized by him. The recruits provided their signatures in a variety of ways. Mary Lacey, Jr., and Mary Marston simply signed "with a pen dipped in ink." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 201). Sarah Hawkes made "a black scrawl or mark with a stick as a confirmation of the covenant." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 387). Once they had signed, the Devil took them either to a pond or a river and baptized them into the cult (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 71). Mercy Wardwell said that she had experienced the opposite extreme. The Devil baptized her in her home "in a pail of water in which he dipped her face." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 781). Regardless of the mode or place of baptism, the confessors agreed to renounce Christ and yield to Satan "soul & body." (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 387).Once in the Devil's "Company," the recruits were obligated to attend witch meetings. Several testified that they had met in Salem Village near Samuel Parris's house (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p. 66). Getting to the meetings proved a novel experience for the witches. Most claimed that they rode upon sticks or poles, a means of transport that took them above the trees (Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1977, p.140).Even though the witches did confess all their sins their stories sound like legends which cannot be proved by any scientific facts. Besides, their confessions remind the warnings of church leaders who lived during those days and endeavored to emphasize the power of church by threatening people with stories about Satan and his evil acts. Thus, the confessions by witches sound so unrealistic that we may assume that those women and, also, men accused in witchcraft were forced to say those things. In fact, there is evidence that many of the people accused were tortured. Giles Corey, husband of Martha Corey (she was named as witch) was pressed to death when he refused to go to trial. Large weights were put on his chest to force him to confess. Giles Corey died instead of confessing a lie. Giles Corey was 80 years old and just refused to speak. This way he would not be taken to trial.Furthermore, many women spoke of their hidden wishes (e.g. desire to have young lover; wear nice clothes; attract men, etc.) which could not come true because of strict Puritan values. Moreover, some women who were named as witches did not repent even when they went to the gallows which proves that they were not involved in witchcraft (for example, Sarah Goods, Rebecca Nurse).6. Change in HeartThe witch hunt was getting out of control. People were beginning to think about what they were doing. In October of 1692 Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips was outraged when his own wife was mentioned by the afflicted girls (Levack, 1987, p. 121). He suspended the court that he had started in May 1692. He replaced the court with a new Superior Court of Judicature, which did not allow spectral evidence. The court only condemned only 3 of the 56 people on trial (Levack, 1987, p. 123). Phips pardoned these three. In May of 1693 Phips pardoned all of the others waiting to be hanged. They were free to go as long as they paid their jail bills. Lots of them stayed in jail for months because they could not pay their bill.

7. Forgiveness and Memorial

Massachusetts little by little repented for the Salem Witch Trials. Rev. Joseph Green replaced Rev. Parris and the colony observed a Day of Atonement in 1697 (Levack, 1987, p. 167). Samuel Sewell, the judge, admitted publicly that he was wrong in taking part in the witch trials. He was the only judge to make such a statement. Also, Anne Putman who accused several women in witchcraft made a public apology for her part (Levack, 1987, p. 174).In 1711 legislature passed a bill restoring the good names of some of the victims and their heirs got restitution. In 1957 the city of Salem and the town of Danvers (originally Salem Village) dedicated memorials to the "slain" witched in 1691. In the end, 19 people were hung, five died in jail including the infant baby of Sarah Good, and one died from torture.

Conclusion

Thus, Salem Witch Trials is one of the saddest pages in the history of America. The desire of those immigrants to New England who had brought occult beliefs with them, sought to create a society of closely knit Christian villages with a strong sense of communal responsibility. Inspired by the belief that they were on a mission for God to preserve the true church, these committed immigrants eagerly pursued the task of establishing a Christian utopia. God, they believed, had entered into a covenant with man to save his predestined "elect" status. Therefore, one of the possible causes of the massive witch hunt was the desire of people to establish the true Christian church and emphasize their special place in cosmos destroying those whose behavior was somewhat different from traditional Christian beliefs. As it was mentioned earlier in this paper, some witches had fortunetelling and healing skills. Also, some of them were old and ill and could not attend church. Besides, some women were unfaithful to their husbands; the fact that, also, contradicts Christian values.The second reason was the desire of men to preserve their dominant status in the society. As it was stated earlier, the majority of those accused were women. Besides, women could strengthen its status in the society by inheriting property and gaining economic prosperity.Furthermore, the lack of knowledge in the field of medicine was the third cause of the witch hunt. It is obvious that the doctors who were not able to explain the origin of illness could not admit their incompetence. Therefore, they did not want to ruin their reputation and simply stated that witchcraft caused the illness.Finally, Salem farmers suffered from unfavorable weather conditions. Since they could not find scientific factors to explain natural occurrences they endeavored to find supernatural causes.

Thus, there can be various interpretations of the persecution of witches in the seventeenth century but we can certainly state that those women were innocent victims of the ignorant society.Produced by ProfEssays ( www.professays.com ) - professional custom essay writing service: custom essays, custom term papers, custom academic papers, custom research papers, compositions, book reports, case study. No plagiarism, high quality, prompt delivery.

Through an understanding of causes of juvenile delinquency society may come to deal preventively with delinquency; certainly treatment of the offender needs to be based upon an understanding of the causal mechanisms that have produced him. In this paper we'll describe three theories of juvenile delinquency such as Social Learning Theory, General Strain Theory and Behavioral Theory and discuss appropriate preventive programs based upon these theories.In 1977 Albert Bandura, a Stanford University psychology professor, published Social Learning Theory, in which he postulated that human learning is a continuous reciprocal interaction of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors. Sometimes called observational learning, social learning theory focuses on behavior modeling, in which the child observes and then imitates the behavior of adults or other children around him or her (Wiesner, Capaldi, Patterson, 2003, p. 318).In his research on social learning theory, Bandura studied how violence portrayed in mass media can have a tremendously negative impact on the behavior of certain types of children watching violent television shows. What he noted was that some children will observe and then imitate the behavior of the characters on the television screen. From these observations, we can conclude that juvenile delinquency is the result of imitation of aggressive actions. Bandura determined that certain types of children learn to perform violent and aggressive actions by observing and then modeling their behavior after what they have seen. He referred to this as direct learning through instantaneous matching of the observed behavior to the modeled behavior (Wiesner et al, 2003, p. 320). Therefore, social learning theory states that learning can occur through the simple process of observing and then imitating others' activities.Merton (1957) formulated a social strain theory of criminal involvement (Broidy, 2001, p. 10). Merton proposed that a society instills in its citizenry aspirations for upward mobility and a desire for selected goals. However, when legitimate avenues to goal attainment are blocked, anomie or strain sets in, which in turn compels the individual to violate the law in order to attain these goals. Lower-class persons are viewed by Merton as more susceptible to the ravages of anomie because they are more regularly thwarted in their efforts to participate in the economic rewards of the wider society (Broidy, 2001, p. 12).Merton assumed in his theorizing that humans are conforming organisms who only violate the law when the disjunction between goals and means becomes so great that the individual believes he or she can no longer pursue socially sanctioned goals via legitimate channels. Society and certain social variables are, according to strain theorists, responsible for the majority of crime being committed in the world today. According to Merton, a society that emphasizes goals over the means to obtain these goals, and that restricts access to opportunities for legitimate advancement, is establishing the conditions for anomie and future criminality. Strain theorists have long argued that once a person is removed from a situation of anomie or frustration, negative behavior will recede (Henry, Tolan, Gorman-Smith, 2001, p. 173).Agnew's (1992) general strain theory offers a promising framework for understanding juvenile delinquency. A major type of strain, according to Agnew's general strain theory, consists of experiencing unpleasant events or circumstances, including aversive situations at home, particularly arguments and violence (Broidy, 2001, p. 21). The theory proposes that adolescents are pressed into delinquency by negative emotional reactions that result from being situated in an aversive situation from which they cannot escape. This blockage frustrates the adolescent and may lead to desperate avoidance and/or anger-based delinquency (Broidy, 2001, p. 23).Behavioral theory was studied by J. Watson, I. Pavlov and B.F. Skinner. It describes the outcomes of the consequences of a certain behavior on occurrence of such behavior in the future. Operant conditioning developed by Skinner is one of the learning methods according to which the likelihood of behavior is increased or decreased by the use of reinforcement or punishment. In case of positive reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the effect of experiencing some positive condition. In case of negative reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the outcome of stopping or staying away from some negative condition. In case of extinction a certain behavior is becomes weaker by the outcome of avoiding to experiencing some positive condition or stopping some negative condition.Negative and positive reinforcements and extinction strengthen certain kinds of behavior of individuals. Punishment is a big form of operant conditioning used all over the world. When people are punished, it is to decrease that certain behavior produced by the individual. Therefore, behavioral theory refers to conditioning which leads to different behavioral pattern of juvenile offenders.Preventive programs based on the social learning theory require placing an individual in favorable environment where he/she would be less tempted to imitate violent behavior. One of the examples of such environment is the social services of the church. The actual role of contemporary religion in delinquency prevention is not easy to evaluate. Its potential role is tremendous, but the fulfillment of that potential depends on the vitality of a religion in the lives of its professants. The formulation through religion of a standardized morality that is in conformity with the law (not all religious beliefs and practices in the United States are legal, of course, but the exceptions are in small minority faiths for the most part) establishes a system of social control norms that overlap substantive legal norms (Wiesner et al, 2003, p. 320). The social services of the church can do much--and some of them do-in providing more experimental, intensive, and therapeutic assistance to delinquents than public resources customarily are equipped to perform.Also, community behavior can influence behavior modeling of juvenile delinquents. Community organization and planning represent tremendously significant possibilities for the development of delinquency-deterring measures.According to the General Strain Theory, the major causes of juvenile delinquency are aversive atmosphere at home and school. The emotional atmosphere, the hostilities, and the inadequacies expressed in the parent-child relationships do greater injury to the child than do physical hurts. From a preventive point of view, then, it seems clear that the greatest hope for discouraging delinquency must lie in efforts to improve the quality and harmony of the family system.Preventive programs based on the General Strain Theory refer to effective family social work: a field designed to strengthen family life through assisting individuals and family units and, so far as possible, to improve the community circumstances essential to wholesome family living. Private agencies, and governmental services (chiefly departments of public welfare) contribute to this work; many of them today, especially in moderate-sized cities, merge child-welfare services with their family case work for more completely integrated assistance (Asetline, Gore, Gordon, 2001, p. 257).Family counseling, which is carried on in large part by the old established social agencies but which is also coming to be practiced increasingly by individual practitioners and clinics, offers much promise and some dangers. In an area where the divorce rates alone are a sufficient indication of the widespread need for help, trained and specialized skills focused specifically on the medical, emotional, and broader psychological requirements of the family can help to resolve difficulties before they become too serious (Asetline, Gore, Gordon, 2001, p. 258). Provisions should be available in the community for the individual who feels the need for advice about his family relationships. Such facilities should be competent of course. Traditionally much of this advisory function, when performed at all (of course, many persons needing help have refrained from seeking it either out of pride or a lack of available and known resources), has been done informally by family physicians, attorneys, or friends. It hardly need be said that none of these roles, taken by itself, gives any assurance of qualification to deal with the often subtle, profound, and technical problems involved in family pathology. Today, though specialized skills for this work are being developed and counseling bureaus are being established.One of the commonest characteristics observed among delinquent children is the dislike of school and teachers. It would seem that any real solution to this problem lies not in penalty classes or special schools with long hours-or even incarceration but in such preventive measures as vigorously attempting to adapt the educational process to the needs and interests of children. The docile rote learner-so dear to the heart of the educator-and the non-aggressive but apathetic conformist, as well as the resistant problem child, could all profit by a vitalized education. If classroom organization, program of study, and teaching methods are planned to meet the interests and needs of children and adolescents at their level of development, with rich and varied opportunities for the expression of diverse abilities and sufficient elasticity to allow the individual some freedom in adaptation, there would be far less aversion and passive indifference to school (Houchins, Guin, Schroeder, 2001, p. 110). Again it should be noted that flexible programs and good teaching are largely a matter of adequate budgets and careful selection.Ideally every school system should have attached to it or continuously available to it the facilities of a psychiatric clinic or study home to which cases of juvenile delinquency might be referred for observation and assistance. If teachers can be trained sufficiently and selected as personalities sensitive to the needs of childhood, they should be able to refer a large proportion of unadjusted children for clinical assistance early and thus prevent the development of serious conduct problems and delinquency (Houchins et al, 2001, p. 108).For most instances of children with psychological or conduct problems, the school must continue to provide formal education to meet their particular needs as well as possible. Thus arises a perennial problem in pedagogical and administrative technique: Should "problem children" be segregated in separate classes and separate schools where groups of unadjusted and delinquent boys are massed together, or should they be brought as much as possible into contact with normal children in the regular schools? According to General Strain Theory, in cases where the problems of personality are serious enough and classroom environment becomes the source of frustration for children, children should be treated for their special requirements in groups established according to their needs. If these individuals are to be taught separately they need programs and teachers that are adapted to their peculiar needs.According to the Behavioral Theory, juvenile delinquency preventive programs should be based on positive and negative reinforcements. Some of the examples of preventive programs with the use of negative reinforcements are confinement, boot camps and waiver. Although not as restrictive as confinement in a secure facility, boot camps are known for their rigid militaristic style. Juvenile participants are commonly organized into platoons and required to wear uniforms and to participate in daily regimens of drill exercises and physical training. Daily routines may extend from 5:30 or 6:00 A.M. to lights out at 9:00 or 10:00 P.M (Fagan, Zimring, 2001, p. 88). This program is focused upon changing attitudes and behavior through discipline.Another popular program of achieving delinquency prevention or reduction has been waiver of juvenile offenders to adult court. By waiving juveniles to adult court, there is an increased chance that they will come into contact with adult felony offenders and, consequently, after this contact the juvenile should learn to be better.Unlike boot camps and waiver, mentor programs involve mostly positive reinforcements in changing juvenile behavior. Most programs involve volunteer staff who see themselves as giving something to or sharing something with the youths who are being mentored (Colvin, Cullen, Vander Ven, 2002, p. 20) Mentor programs are less costly than other approaches to delinquency prevention because often the mentors are volunteers who may or may not receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses related to mentoring activities. As a juvenile justice strategy, mentoring is an opportunity to provide support where it is missing and to supplement it when it is weak.In conclusion, the contributing factors that make a child delinquent are numerous and varied; they are often complexly interwoven in a single case. One single theory cannot explain the complex of conditions and circumstances producing delinquency. Similarly, application of one single preventive program will not significantly reduce juvenile delinquency. Therefore, juvenile delinquency preventive programs should be based upon several theoretical approaches and developed for every particular case of juvenile delinquency.Produced by ProfEssays ( www.professays.com ) - professional custom essay writing service: custom essays, custom term papers, custom academic papers, custom research papers, compositions, book reports, case study. No plagiarism, high quality, prompt delivery.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Palm Beach attorney Christopher Hopkins shows his iPhone application that provides lawyers with cyber access to rules of professional conduct and guidelines.

Technology is changing the practice of law like every other profession. So Palm Beach attorney Christopher Hopkins reached into cyberspace and came up with a new way to give lawyers instant access to information on professional codes of ethics.

His iPhone application — downloadable free at iTunes — lets judges, attorneys, paralegals and law students punch up state and local rules of professional conduct whether they’re in court or having lunch at the corner deli.

The application features Southern District guidelines and local bar rules for Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Duval counties. And since Hopkins updates it regularly, he’d like to eventually add local bar rules from other parts of the state.

“You used to see a lot of lawyers using BlackBerries at the courthouse, but now it’s moved more toward iPhones,” Hopkins says. “You can get e-mails and read documents very easily.

“And with the popularity of iPhone apps, having access to rules of civil procedure, rules of evidence, those types of things, right on your phone — as opposed to walking around with a book — makes a lot of sense. The first thing that came to mind was doing something that had the rules of professional conduct.”

For Hopkins, an attorney at Butzel Long on Worth Avenue, it was a matter of pulling together the information from a lot different sources into one searchable package. He started working on it last summer, and came out with the initial version in October. He’s updated it since then.

“Putting all of this together was partly like a hobby. But I think it was also a good thing for the legal community, which is why I give it away for free.”

The BlackBerry — a Research in Motion product — still holds a lead over the iPhone in market share, according to a March 5 article on Forbes.com. “However,” the magazine says, “RIM’s market share lead over Apple has been shrinking and we estimate that Apple will be able to overtake RIM market share by early 2011.”

As a result, iPhone applications are being generated as fast as cotton candy at a county fair. There are now about 140,000 of them and the list is growing. They’re being created as both personal and professional reference sources.

The timing is right because attorneys are becoming increasingly tech savvy. All Palm Beach County courtrooms have Wi-Fi, for example, and some judges accept filings by e-mail, says Walter Jones, a Palm Beach Gardens attorney and chair of the Palm Beach County Bar Association’s technology committee.

But most lawyers still prefer to do research on a laptop or desktop in their office, Jones says. “The problem is, it’s hard to read 10 pages of text on an [iPhone] screen, ” he says. “If I had to do it in a pinch, I would.”

That’s one reason the iPad has greater potential for business use, according to Gregg Weiss, founder of iPadApplicationQuotes.com, a Wellington-based company that matches iPhone application developers with companies interested in specific kinds of products. Weiss predicts the new iPad will revolutionize information technology in areas such as medicine and education because of its larger size and faster processing speed.

“It’s really going to replace the clipboard for your doctor,” Weiss says. “They’ll be walking around with an iPad instead.” (iPhone applications can be viewed on an iPad.)

To create his application, Hopkins had to apply to Apple to become an iPhone app developer. There’s a $99 fee. Then he had to submit the application for Apple for approval. If it passes muster it’s made available on iTunes.

There are about 70,000 lawyers in Florida. Hopkins doesn’t have a handle on how many have downloaded his application, since it’s free.

“I got a nice e-mail from someone I didn’t even know,” says Hopkins, who specializes in medical malpractice cases, defending doctors. “He said nice job, and he was sending something around on Twitter with a reference to go to the Website to download. So, it’s getting some attention.”

Commensurate with the sharp decline in the public's opinion of lawyers, among the most quoted defamation of attorneys is found in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Act IV: "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." This is guaranteed to elicit chuckles and more than a few nods of approval. I must admit to finding it humorous upon occasion also.

Although never matching that of the clergy or physicians, throughout much of American history, lawyers have enjoyed the trust and respect of the people, an accommodation seen in the frequency of their selection to serve in public office. But, the last thirty-odd years have seen a marked decline in public opinion. A 1973 Harris Poll reported 24 percent had "a great deal of confidence" in law firms, , but that figure had dropped to 7 percent in 1997.

Most probable among the factors affecting the decline in the public's perception of attorneys are the steep increase in lawyer fees along with a commensurate rise in the number of lawyers — fairly or unfairly, they are seen as overpaid and overabundant. Frivolous lawsuits (McDonald's hot coffee, anyone?), high profile trials in which it appeared to most that justice was not served, tasteless television personal injury advertising and lawyers elected to public office behaving badly are all contributors to the public's increasingly negative view.

Lawyers are not without fault in this sinking public esteem, but they have not been well served by the print media, movies or television. Lawyers, primarily those serving the defense, are too often portrayed as dishonest, sleazy and opportunistic, caring only for sending criminals back onto the streets while extracting exorbitant fees. Many feel that the law profession has been less than diligent in policing itself. Nevertheless, as there are rotten apples galore in other walks of life, let us not judge the book merely by its soiled cover.

Why am I defending the legal profession, you may ask? In all fairness, the honest, hard working, dedicated attorneys outnumber those whose high-profile shenanigans are grist for the lawyer jokes and profligate attorneys. Additionally, those who perform the unheralded but fundamental roles on the bottom rung of the system — city and county court prosecutors, defenders and judges — merit a better fate.

In late February, I received a notice from the circuit court judge of Boone County. I had been selected as a prospective juror for a specified period and, if physically qualified to perform, I should return the notice stating any period of unavailability. I complied, and shortly I was given something that ranges between periodontal surgery and a month's visit from Dog the Bounty Hunter in acceptability level: a summons to jury duty.

Seriously, while it can be a very long day and the hardest $6 one ever earned if not selected as a juror, the process restores one's faith in our judicial system. Jury duty is orderly and well executed, from the introduction by the court marshal, the short film of explanation, the assignment of juror numbers and movement to the courtroom to meet with the judge and the trial and defense attorneys.

One gains a true appreciation for the judicial system in the "voir dire" (translation: "to speak the truth") process in the selection of jurors. This process consists of examination in court by the judge as well as the defense and trial attorneys to determine the bias or preconceived notions among those randomly selected for the jury pool. In voir dire, both the defense and the prosecution may object to the seating of a juror and, in some jurisdictions, the attorneys may challenge for cause.

The amount that the attorneys and the presiding judge take their responsibilities seriously is apparent from beginning to end. Prospective jurors are asked relevant questions and are also probed for experience, employment, mental convictions and beliefs that may relate to their acceptability for impanelling. The exchange is spirited and informative.

I won't insult the reader's intelligence by insinuating that a summons to jury duty is "as welcome as the flowers in May". However, it is as important and necessary a civic duty as one is obligated to perform. Amendment VI of the Constitution guarantees the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury, while Amendment VII preserves the right of trial by jury in other than criminal cases. The guardians of that right are found in the trenches of our city and county courts — the dedicated trial and defense attorneys and judges steeped in the law.

Consequently, what do you do the next time you feel the urge to laugh at lawyer jokes? Answer: Stop and think. Lawyers don't think they're funny, and nobody else thinks they're jokes. The next time you need legal aid or advice, do you call a lawyer or a comedian?

J. Karl Miller retired as a colonel in the Marine Corps. He is a Columbia resident and can be reached via e-mail at JKarlUSMC@aol.com.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Many types of injuries can occur during pregnancy, labor or after birth. Some of the most common types of birth injuries include cerebral palsy, erb's palsy, and brachial palsy. Birth trauma is an injury to the child during the delivery. Caring for a child with a birth injury, caused by the negligence, costs an unfathomable amount over the lifetime of the child. Filing a medical malpractice claim through can result in much needed financial assistant for medical expenses and other costs.

Medical error can cause birth injuries or can increase their severity or permanence. Medical errors include: failing to anticipate birth complications, such as your baby's twisted umbilical cord; failure to respond appropriately to bleeding; failure to respond to fetal distress; delay in ordering a cesarean section when medically necessary; misuse of forceps or a vacuum extractor during delivery; or poor after-care after.

Injuries can occur during the birth of a child. A child can suffer permanent brain injury, Cerebral Palsy, nerve injury or even death as well as other complications later in life like learning difficulties, emotional difficulties and mental retardation.

One of the common birth injuries is shoulder dystocia which can be caused during delivery by a physician's improper use of forceps. Besides pain, the injury results a limited ability to move a hand or arm. Often a baby suffering from shoulder dystocia cannot lift their arm above the shoulder level. Other common birth injuries are Erb's Palsy and Brachial Plexus injuries.

Lack of oxygen to the brain during delivery can cause an anoxic or mechanical injury. Anoxic injuries are those caused by a reduced oxygen supply during delivery. The same kind of brain damage can be produced by a physical trauma during birth. This type of physical trauma is known as a "mechanical injury," such as a fractured skull.

Indicators that a fetus has an higher risk of birth injury include a difficult, prolonged labor, improper use of medication by the pregnant mother, a large fetus or a breech birth. An unreasonable delay in performing an emergency cesarean section can increase the risk of injury.

A pregnant woman with gestational diabetes faces a greater risk of complications at birth. About two to seven babies out of a thousand births will suffer birth injuries. Every precaution to ensure a healthy delivery should be pursued by seeing a competent pre-natal physician.

The statute of limitations for birth injury cases varies from state to state. In Michigan, you must file a lawsuit within two years after the minors 10th birthday. If you miss a deadline, your claim will be lost forever. To avoid these severe consequences it is important that you contact a Michigan birth injury lawyer so that you may make a medical malpractice claim.

Lawrence J. Buckfire is a Michigan birth injury lawyer that represents children with birth injuries such as cerebral palsy. For more information about his firm visit http://www.BuckfireLaw.com

The second greatest number of cancer deaths is from colon cancer.. Every year, around forty eight thousand individuals will pass away from colon cancer. A large number of these fatalities could be avoided with early diagnosis and treatment through standard colon cancer screening of asymptomatic people.

If the disease is detected while it is still a small polyp in the course of a regularly scheduled screening test, such as a colonoscopy, the polyp can ordinarily be removed in the course of the colonoscopy without the requirement for the surgical removal of any segment of the colon. Once the polyp grows to the point where it turns cancerous and gets to Stage I or Stage II, the tumor and a part of the colon on each side of the tumore is surgical taken out. The chances that the person will survive the cancer is over ninety percent for Stage I and 73% for Stage II.

If the cancer reaches Stage 3, a colon resection is no longer sufficient. The individual will, furthermore, need to have chemotherapy. At this stage the chances that the person will outlive the cancer by at least five years falls to 53%, depending on such factors as the quantity of lymph nodes that contain cancer.

Once the colon cancer reaches Stage IV, treatment might require chemotherapy and perhaps additional drugs and even surgery on other organs. If the measurement and number of tumors in other organs (like the liver and lungs) are small enough, surgery to get rid of the cancer from those other organs might be the first treatment, followed by chemotherapy. Sometimes the dimensions or number of tumors in the different organs removes the possibility of surgery as a treatment.

If chemotherapy and additional drugs are able to reduce the number and size of these tumors, surgery might at that point turn out to be a viable second form of treatment. If not, chemotherapy and other drugs (perhaps through clinical trials) may for a time halt or limit the ongoing progression of the cancer. The relative 5-year survival rate is reduced to approximately 8%.

The statistics are clear. The time frame when the cancer is found and treated makes a significant difference. If detected and treated early, the person has a high likelihood of outliving the disease. When detection and treatment is delayed, the probability starts turning from the individual so that once the colon cancer progresses to Stage III, the percentage is almost 50/50. Plus the odds drop precipitously when the cancer metastasizes.

Yet, too frequently doctors fail to recommend standard cancer testing to their patients. By the time the cancer is eventually found - sometimes since the tumor has grown so large that it is leading to blockage, since the person has inexplicable anemia that is worsening, or since the person begins to detect other indications - the colon cancer is a Stage 3 or even a Stage 4. The individual now faces a much different prognosis than if the cancer had been discovered early through standard screening tests.

In medical malpractice terms, the patient has suffered a "loss of chance" of a better recovery. That is to say, because the doctor failed to advisev that the patient undergo routine screening test, the cancer is now much more advanced and the individual has a much lower chance of surviving the cancer. A physician may be liable for malpractice if he or she does not suggest cancer screening to a patient who subsequently is determined to have advanced colon cancer.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Many kinds of discriminations occur in the workplace. People often discriminate other individuals based on their age, skin color, educational background, and even gender. Aside from these another issue that is being talked about by many nowadays is religion.

Religious discrimination is strictly prohibited by federal and state laws and every employer is expected to follow this. According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers cannot make decisions that will compromise their employees' religion and beliefs. In states like Los Angeles, employers should make accommodations to their employees' religious practices, customs and holidays. This must be strictly observed by the company as long as the accommodation would not affect its general concerns and business interests. If you feel your employer does not give reasonable accommodation in relation to your religion, it is time that you seek legal help from Los Angeles religious discrimination attorneys.

Getting professional help would be beneficial because attorneys specializing in religious discrimination usually have a wide history of employment situations where they can relate your case. They will assure no employee will be treated more or less favorably in any kind of situation that involves religious beliefs. These instances include refusal to hire, demotions, terminations, and other unlawful actions against an employee just because of his or her religion. Some of the religions that have shown cases of religious discrimination in recent years are Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, indigenous religions, Judaism and Rastafarianism.

All kinds of discriminating practices involving the religion of employees are strictly prohibited by the law. Employers should also avoid conducting activities that may isolate their employees with regard to their beliefs.

If you have already experienced religious discrimination, start looking for experienced Los Angeles religious discrimination attorneys to protect your employee rights. It is relatively easy to search for reliable lawyers in Los Angeles with the help of the Internet. If you want to know how to conduct this search, refer to the following steps:

* Turn on your Internet-connected computer and look for a search engine website.

* Talk with the lawyer personally and ask regarding the solutions he will prepare for your case.

Once you have hired your very own attorney, your religious discrimination case will be resolved much easier. Aside from that, you will also regain the respect of your employer concerning your religion and beliefs. You just need to take the initiative to act on the situation with the help of your lawyer.

Jhun Derek Rota took up English language studies from a State University and has previous experience as a journalist. He is a freelance writer who has written articles under various topics such as education, employment, insurance, banking, and tourism. He took a step further and started to write personal injury and social security articles to inform people who are in need of reliable legal assistance.

Mr. Bill Fason, once wisely wrote: "Most creditors (if they are not professional finance people) at first look upon their money judgments as if they had found a Golden Ticket to visit Willy Wonka's factory".

"Eventually, the cold harsh reality sets in as they discover that their bad paper has a street value somewhere between Confederate war bonds and broken eight track tape players".

Everyone who wins a court judgment eventually has to smell the coffee.

Congratulations, you spent time and money to win a court judgment. The judge ordered and signed a judgment that the debtor has to pay you, and you get interest while you wait. Oh boy!

The debtor did not pay you yet. The Judgment does not say you will get paid. Oh no!

The court clerks can't give you legal advice, and the court cannot help you collect money from your debtor. Oh no!

You know someone will buy your judgment for cash. You might have to interview many people. You send a copy of your judgment to many people, and the most anyone is willing to pay for your judgment is a few cents on the dollar. Oh no!

You keep searching the internet and find lots of "contingency" judgment buyers. They will pay you 50% of what they recover, but nothing up front. They can't say when or if you will be paid.

This is what most judgment owners experience. The problem is laws are stacked in the debtor's favor. It's much harder, and more expensive to collect judgments, than it should be. The economy makes it even harder to collect.

So, how do you get the debtor to pay you, like the judge ordered them to do? Here are the ways:

1) Try and settle with the debtor. See if they will pay you half (or more) of what they owe. If they won't pay you, you will most likely have to pay 50% to someone, to force or convince the debtor to pay. Of course, most debtors won't actually pay you. If they were going to voluntarily pay you, you would not have had to sue them.

2) Try to enforce your own judgment. You will need to read a lot. You also must have your checkbook ready, as you must pay courts and sheriffs. You also may have to pay process servers, lawyers, private investigators, or detective web sites. And results are not guaranteed. The time and money you spend, may not result in getting you money.

Search for cash judgment buyers. Unless your debtor is wealthy, don't expect more than a few pennies on the dollar. Trying to find people who buy judgments for cash can waste a lot of time. Web sites that say "we buy judgments" can give false hope. Phrases like "up to 20%" are only for a very few judgments. Most judgments are sold for cash at 1-3 cents on the dollar.

4) Try an auction, but not Ebay. Ebay is silent on the subject of selling judgments. Selling judgments at auctions is fairly new to the web. There are at least two web sites, including mine, that have this feature. One such site, which I am not affiliated with, is at www.MoneyJudgmentExchange.com.

The problem with online judgment auction sites is the opening bids are set too high. Bidding works best when the starting price is set low. To get bidding active on online judgments auctions, opening bid prices should be set to 1% of the face value of the judgment.

Do what most people do, assign your judgment to a judgment enforcer. Find a contingency Judgment Enforcement buyer. There are thousands of them, most are easy to find on the net. One directory (I am not affiliated with them) is www.EnforceMyJudgment.com.

Mark D. Shapiro, Mark@GoGuys.com V:888-831-4350, Fax: 206-267-9857 The FAQ at http://www.JudgmentBuy.com is updated often and has useful information for anyone involved with Judgments.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Supreme Court on Wednesday made it a little harder for civil rights lawyers to be paid extra for exceptional results.

In most American lawsuits, each side pays for its own lawyers whether they win or lose. But Congress occasionally allows the winning side to claim its legal fees from its adversaries, notably in cases involving claims of civil rights violations.

The question in the case decided Wednesday, Perdue v. Kenny A., No. 08-970, was how judges should determine how much the losing side has to pay.

The case arose from a successful class-action suit on behalf of 3,000 children in Georgia that helped reform the foster-care system there.

The trial judge awarded the lawyers $6 million using a conventional way of calculating legal fees — hours worked times the local hourly market rate for lawyers of comparable experience and skill. The judge then added $4.5 million for what he said was work of exceptionally high quality.

Justice Samuel A. Alito, writing for five justices, said that some additional payments may be proper in rare cases but that the judge here had not given good enough reasons for increasing the basic payment by 75 percent.

For the most part, Justice Alito said, it is not possible to know what role a lawyer played in obtaining a favorable result.

“The outcome may be attributable to superior performance and commitment of resources by plaintiff’s counsel,” he wrote. “Or the outcome may result from inferior performance by defense counsel, unanticipated defense concessions, unexpectedly favorable rulings by the court, an unexpectedly sympathetic jury or simple luck.”

The majority opinion recalled an exchange from the argument in the case in October.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who used to be a highly paid appellate lawyer, questioned Paul D. Clement, a former United States solicitor general now in lucrative private practice.

“You think the lawyers are responsible for a good result and I think the judges are,” the chief justice said.

The justices were unanimous on Wednesday in saying that enhanced awards were at least theoretically possible, but they split along ideological lines in discussing how trial judges should approach the question.

Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas, said that the trial judge’s “essentially arbitrary” award in the Georgia case would have caused the lawyers there to “earn as much as the attorneys at some of the richest law firms in the country.”

The legal-fees provision, he wrote, “was enacted to ensure that civil rights plaintiffs are adequately represented, not to provide such a windfall.”

Justice Stephen G. Breyer, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Gisburg and Sonia Sotomayor, said the Georgia lawyers had indeed vindicated important civil rights and helped reform an abusive foster-care system through an exceptionally long, complex and hard-fought litigation. Justice Breyer added that the trial judge was in the best position to assess their performance.

“If this is not an exceptional case,” Justice Breyer asked, “what is?”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. may be better off cutting its losses instead of fighting what it terms “unfounded” fraud claims, say professors of securities law who have examined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against the bank.

The most profitable firm in Wall Street history will probably lose what is typically the first hurdle in court, a motion to throw out the April 16 suit because it lacks legal merit, the professors said in interviews this week. After that, Goldman Sachs’s risks will mount and its negotiating position will weaken, they said.

“There’s a very low probability that Goldman could get the case dismissed,” said Thomas Hazen of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, whose books include a two-volume treatise on broker-dealer law. “Every pretrial motion the SEC wins, Goldman gets one step closer to losing.”

Goldman Sachs is the first major Wall Street firm accused by regulators of fraud connected to the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. The SEC’s allegation that Goldman Sachs defrauded investors sparked a 13 percent, one-day decline in its shares. The New York-based firm, led by Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, 55, said it will vigorously contest the claims. It must weigh the risks of a drawn-out legal battle against the benefits of a more immediate resolution.

“We are disappointed that the SEC would bring this action related to a single transaction in the face of an extensive record which establishes that the accusations are unfounded in law and fact,” the bank said after the complaint was filed. Lucas van Praag, a Goldman Sachs spokesman, declined to comment yesterday on the likelihood of getting the case dismissed.

Senate Hearing

Blankfein and other executives at the bank are scheduled to testify at a Senate hearing next week along with Fabrice Tourre, the Goldman Sachs banker who was also sued by the SEC. The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations will explore investment banks’ role in the financial crisis at the April 27 hearing.

Blankfein yesterday attended a speech by President Obama in New York City pushing for financial regulatory reform, as Congress weighs legislation that could crimp profits for Goldman Sachs and the biggest U.S. banks. The legislation may come to the Senate floor as early as next week.

Even if top managers are certain they’re right on the merits of the case, Goldman Sachs should probably settle, said senior executives at three of the firm’s rivals. The executives, speaking anonymously because they wouldn’t comment publicly on a competitor, said Goldman Sachs would be better off by deciding to settle the suit, cut its losses, and focus on repairing the damage to the firm’s reputation.

Paulson’s Pick

Two of the executives said they also believe Goldman Sachs may have to change senior management to give the appearance that the firm is changing the way it does business.

The SEC’s case revolves around whether the firm should have told investors that hedge fund Paulson & Co. helped pick the underlying securities in a collateralized debt obligation -- and then bet against it. Paulson wasn’t accused of wrongdoing.

That’s too nuanced a judgment to make on the limited evidence available so far, making it unlikely the case will be dismissed, said Peter Henning, a former SEC attorney who teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit. U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, who was assigned the case and also presided over the case of former WorldCom Inc. CEO Bernard Ebbers, won’t dismiss it because materiality is what’s at issue, said Columbia University’s John Coffee.

Lawsuit Fodder?

If the SEC’s case survives a dismissal motion, the case would probably proceed to discovery, when the agency may seek additional testimony or information from the firm. That process could provide fodder for private lawsuits, additional allegations from regulators, or media attention that would further tarnish the firm’s image, according to George Cohen, a corporate law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, and Lisa Casey, who teaches securities law at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

“The evidence and rumors would be difficult to contain,” Casey said. “The market could react any time more information leaks out to the press.”

Goldman Sachs’s shares have slipped 1 percent this week after the April 16 tumble. The stock closed at $159.05 yesterday, down 5.8 percent this year.

Few professors were willing to predict which side would win in a trial, saying the case will depend on evidence and testimony that isn’t yet public. If weaknesses emerge in the SEC’s case, Goldman Sachs may decide to press on.

Reputational Risks

The reputational stakes are so high that Goldman Sachs may feel pressure to keep fighting, said Onnig Dombalagian, a former attorney fellow at the SEC who teaches at Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. “For Goldman not to stand behind its deals would be problematic for the firm,” he said.

If Goldman Sachs settles or loses at trial, “people are going to ask, ‘Am I one of the clients who Goldman does deals for, or am I one of the clients Goldman does deals against?’” Dombalagian said. “There’s the saying that if you don’t know who the mark at the table is, you’re probably the mark.”

Tamar Frankel, a corporate governance professor at Boston University, said a jury may be hostile to Goldman Sachs. “If many of the jurors have lost chunks of their savings in the crisis, the weight will be for the SEC,” Frankel said.

The case is Securities and Exchange Commission v. Goldman Sachs, 10-cv-03229, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Duty of care in Donaghue -v- Stevenson 1932 was defined as exercising such care as is due in such 'acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure persons so directly affected that you ought reasonably to have them in contemplation' and Caparo Industries -v- Dickman 1990 referred also to situations in which it would be fair, just, and reasonable to impose.

This duty is owed to one in physical proximity: e.g., in Haseldine -v - Daw 1941 to user of a lift negligently repaired, Buckland -v- Guilford Gas Light 1941 to child electrocuted by low cables upon climbing a tree, but not to a mother for shock nor for miscarriage to one who was to be who the driver and the rider could not to have known that were around in King -v- Phillips 1953 and Bourhill -v- Young 1942; or to one in legal proximity: e.g., in Donaghue -v- Stevenson 1932 for illness of consumer from manufacturer's drink purchased by another, but not if immune as public policy in Hill -v- Chief Constable 1988, or as barristers or judges - Saif -v- Sydney Mitchell 1980; or to one with blood-ties: e.g., in McLoughlin -v- O'Brien 1982 to a mother who by news of accident 'it was obvious that would be affected' ~it can be owed for financial loss in special professional relationships -Mutual Life Assurance -v- Evett 1971, for careless words not made clear as being without responsibility -Hadley Byrne -v- Heller & Partners 1964, and for serious nervous shock -Reilly -v- Merseyside RHA 1994.

The harm, additionally, if reasonably foreseeable is -Fardon -v- Harcourt 1932, negligence may entitle to damages, even punitive, Rookes -v- Bernard 1964, although if contemptuously claimed to as little as the smallest coin of the realm, e.g., without costs and nominal in Constantine -v- Imperial London Hotels 1944.

Circumstances in which a duty of care can be breached, except in the case of specific torts such as libel or trespass -or under the Rylands -v- Fletcher rule where lawfully but at one's own peril is made any unnatural use of land and excluding cases of immunity and circumstances where a statutory duty properly exercised infringes a right -such as the disturbance caused by the noise of aircraft taking of or landing - but not if improperly exercised: Fisher -v- Ruislip-Northwood UDC 1945, such circumstances may be even when a risk is know and not objected to: Smith -v- Charles Baker & Son 1891, indeed where a risk is known and has been consented to: Bowater -v- Rowley Regis Corp. 1944 ~even if there is contributory negligence: Stapley -v- Gypsum Mines Ltd 1953 -indeed even if despite instructions.

The standard is that of the 'reasonable man'; if injury was risked: Bolton -v- Stone 1951 ~6 times in 30 years meant not and the degree of the risk is proportional to the degree of care required; the seriousness of the injury risked too is proportional the degree of care necessary: Paris -v- Stepney BC 1951 -more so to employee blind in one eye, and not the amount but the type of the injury on the basis of: British Railways Board. -v- Herrington 1972; a social value whether justified the risk: in Fisher failure was not justified in war-time black-out to put up shaded lights to avoid public nuisance to a cyclist, in Watt -v- Hertfordshire CC 1954 getting the wrong vehicle on the scene of accident was justified by the valuable time that would have been lost in getting there help; the cost-benefit consideration: in Latimer -v- AEC 1953 to have done more than reasonable would have made the risk too remote in comparison -except if there is a statutory duty such as under the Health & Safety Acts; that standard in the case of an expert's negligence is, instead -Latimer, of a 'reasonable expert'.

The link between the breach of duty and the resultant damage must be shown to exist as a matter of fact or a matter of law. The former is subject to the 'but for' rule: in Barnett -v- Chelsea etc. Hospital etc. 1968 breach by the failure of the doctor to call was not the caused of death, McWilliams -v- Sir Arrol 1962 failed because the safety-belt would not have been worn if supplied, in Cutler -v- Vauxhall motors 1971 the operation on a graze had already been ordered for an ulcer on the site of it and was a pre-existing condition; but, is not broken a causative link by a consecutive cause and did not lessen a subsequent injury the original factors in Baker -v- Willoughby 1970, nor necessarily disentitle multiple causes when on a balance of probabilities the link considerably was the reason: McGhee -v- National Coal Board 1973; where the harm or part of it is from a third party's breach the 'but for' rule still applies to whether he type of injury could have been seen: Hogan -v Betinck Colliers 1949.

The latter only applies if the breach is not too remote, and it was not in Wieland -v- Cyril Lord Carpets 1969 that the fall elsewhere and later had resulted from the necessity to discard bi-focal glasses caused by the driver's negligence; the special sensitivity of the claimant did not matter -'egg-shell skull' rule: Robinson -v- Post Office 1974 -'one must take the victim as he finds him'; in The Wagonmound 1961 at the time of the breach that oil spilled could burn on sea-water could not reasonably, and in Doughty -v- Turner Mfg. 1964 because of the state of knowledge, have been foreseen; but in Bradford -v- Robinson Rentals 1967 the frostbite was because of providing a van without a heater.

The claimant's proof can move to the defendant: Steer -v- Durable Rubber 1956; at least some evidence is necessary of negligence even if 'facts speak for themselves' -they can not if the claimant can not say what happened: Wakelin -v- LSWR 1886, negligence can be inferred from absence of explanation by defendant, for any by claimant by Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 proportionate reduction is made.

Laws are subject to change, always ascertain current law.Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/the-legal-duty-of-care-in-tort-law-foreseeability-of-injury-200687.html"

Through an understanding of causes of juvenile delinquency society may come to deal preventively with delinquency; certainly treatment of the offender needs to be based upon an understanding of the causal mechanisms that have produced him. In this paper we'll describe three theories of juvenile delinquency such as Social Learning Theory, General Strain Theory and Behavioral Theory and discuss appropriate preventive programs based upon these theories.In 1977 Albert Bandura, a Stanford University psychology professor, published Social Learning Theory, in which he postulated that human learning is a continuous reciprocal interaction of cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors. Sometimes called observational learning, social learning theory focuses on behavior modeling, in which the child observes and then imitates the behavior of adults or other children around him or her (Wiesner, Capaldi, Patterson, 2003, p. 318).In his research on social learning theory, Bandura studied how violence portrayed in mass media can have a tremendously negative impact on the behavior of certain types of children watching violent television shows. What he noted was that some children will observe and then imitate the behavior of the characters on the television screen. From these observations, we can conclude that juvenile delinquency is the result of imitation of aggressive actions. Bandura determined that certain types of children learn to perform violent and aggressive actions by observing and then modeling their behavior after what they have seen. He referred to this as direct learning through instantaneous matching of the observed behavior to the modeled behavior (Wiesner et al, 2003, p. 320). Therefore, social learning theory states that learning can occur through the simple process of observing and then imitating others' activities.Merton (1957) formulated a social strain theory of criminal involvement (Broidy, 2001, p. 10). Merton proposed that a society instills in its citizenry aspirations for upward mobility and a desire for selected goals. However, when legitimate avenues to goal attainment are blocked, anomie or strain sets in, which in turn compels the individual to violate the law in order to attain these goals. Lower-class persons are viewed by Merton as more susceptible to the ravages of anomie because they are more regularly thwarted in their efforts to participate in the economic rewards of the wider society (Broidy, 2001, p. 12).Merton assumed in his theorizing that humans are conforming organisms who only violate the law when the disjunction between goals and means becomes so great that the individual believes he or she can no longer pursue socially sanctioned goals via legitimate channels. Society and certain social variables are, according to strain theorists, responsible for the majority of crime being committed in the world today. According to Merton, a society that emphasizes goals over the means to obtain these goals, and that restricts access to opportunities for legitimate advancement, is establishing the conditions for anomie and future criminality. Strain theorists have long argued that once a person is removed from a situation of anomie or frustration, negative behavior will recede (Henry, Tolan, Gorman-Smith, 2001, p. 173).Agnew's (1992) general strain theory offers a promising framework for understanding juvenile delinquency. A major type of strain, according to Agnew's general strain theory, consists of experiencing unpleasant events or circumstances, including aversive situations at home, particularly arguments and violence (Broidy, 2001, p. 21). The theory proposes that adolescents are pressed into delinquency by negative emotional reactions that result from being situated in an aversive situation from which they cannot escape. This blockage frustrates the adolescent and may lead to desperate avoidance and/or anger-based delinquency (Broidy, 2001, p. 23).Behavioral theory was studied by J. Watson, I. Pavlov and B.F. Skinner. It describes the outcomes of the consequences of a certain behavior on occurrence of such behavior in the future. Operant conditioning developed by Skinner is one of the learning methods according to which the likelihood of behavior is increased or decreased by the use of reinforcement or punishment. In case of positive reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the effect of experiencing some positive condition. In case of negative reinforcement a certain behavior becomes stronger by the outcome of stopping or staying away from some negative condition. In case of extinction a certain behavior is becomes weaker by the outcome of avoiding to experiencing some positive condition or stopping some negative condition.Negative and positive reinforcements and extinction strengthen certain kinds of behavior of individuals. Punishment is a big form of operant conditioning used all over the world. When people are punished, it is to decrease that certain behavior produced by the individual. Therefore, behavioral theory refers to conditioning which leads to different behavioral pattern of juvenile offenders.Preventive programs based on the social learning theory require placing an individual in favorable environment where he/she would be less tempted to imitate violent behavior. One of the examples of such environment is the social services of the church. The actual role of contemporary religion in delinquency prevention is not easy to evaluate. Its potential role is tremendous, but the fulfillment of that potential depends on the vitality of a religion in the lives of its professants. The formulation through religion of a standardized morality that is in conformity with the law (not all religious beliefs and practices in the United States are legal, of course, but the exceptions are in small minority faiths for the most part) establishes a system of social control norms that overlap substantive legal norms (Wiesner et al, 2003, p. 320). The social services of the church can do much--and some of them do-in providing more experimental, intensive, and therapeutic assistance to delinquents than public resources customarily are equipped to perform.Also, community behavior can influence behavior modeling of juvenile delinquents. Community organization and planning represent tremendously significant possibilities for the development of delinquency-deterring measures.According to the General Strain Theory, the major causes of juvenile delinquency are aversive atmosphere at home and school. The emotional atmosphere, the hostilities, and the inadequacies expressed in the parent-child relationships do greater injury to the child than do physical hurts. From a preventive point of view, then, it seems clear that the greatest hope for discouraging delinquency must lie in efforts to improve the quality and harmony of the family system.Preventive programs based on the General Strain Theory refer to effective family social work: a field designed to strengthen family life through assisting individuals and family units and, so far as possible, to improve the community circumstances essential to wholesome family living. Private agencies, and governmental services (chiefly departments of public welfare) contribute to this work; many of them today, especially in moderate-sized cities, merge child-welfare services with their family case work for more completely integrated assistance (Asetline, Gore, Gordon, 2001, p. 257).Family counseling, which is carried on in large part by the old established social agencies but which is also coming to be practiced increasingly by individual practitioners and clinics, offers much promise and some dangers. In an area where the divorce rates alone are a sufficient indication of the widespread need for help, trained and specialized skills focused specifically on the medical, emotional, and broader psychological requirements of the family can help to resolve difficulties before they become too serious (Asetline, Gore, Gordon, 2001, p. 258). Provisions should be available in the community for the individual who feels the need for advice about his family relationships. Such facilities should be competent of course. Traditionally much of this advisory function, when performed at all (of course, many persons needing help have refrained from seeking it either out of pride or a lack of available and known resources), has been done informally by family physicians, attorneys, or friends. It hardly need be said that none of these roles, taken by itself, gives any assurance of qualification to deal with the often subtle, profound, and technical problems involved in family pathology. Today, though specialized skills for this work are being developed and counseling bureaus are being established.One of the commonest characteristics observed among delinquent children is the dislike of school and teachers. It would seem that any real solution to this problem lies not in penalty classes or special schools with long hours-or even incarceration but in such preventive measures as vigorously attempting to adapt the educational process to the needs and interests of children. The docile rote learner-so dear to the heart of the educator-and the non-aggressive but apathetic conformist, as well as the resistant problem child, could all profit by a vitalized education. If classroom organization, program of study, and teaching methods are planned to meet the interests and needs of children and adolescents at their level of development, with rich and varied opportunities for the expression of diverse abilities and sufficient elasticity to allow the individual some freedom in adaptation, there would be far less aversion and passive indifference to school (Houchins, Guin, Schroeder, 2001, p. 110). Again it should be noted that flexible programs and good teaching are largely a matter of adequate budgets and careful selection.Ideally every school system should have attached to it or continuously available to it the facilities of a psychiatric clinic or study home to which cases of juvenile delinquency might be referred for observation and assistance. If teachers can be trained sufficiently and selected as personalities sensitive to the needs of childhood, they should be able to refer a large proportion of unadjusted children for clinical assistance early and thus prevent the development of serious conduct problems and delinquency (Houchins et al, 2001, p. 108).For most instances of children with psychological or conduct problems, the school must continue to provide formal education to meet their particular needs as well as possible. Thus arises a perennial problem in pedagogical and administrative technique: Should "problem children" be segregated in separate classes and separate schools where groups of unadjusted and delinquent boys are massed together, or should they be brought as much as possible into contact with normal children in the regular schools? According to General Strain Theory, in cases where the problems of personality are serious enough and classroom environment becomes the source of frustration for children, children should be treated for their special requirements in groups established according to their needs. If these individuals are to be taught separately they need programs and teachers that are adapted to their peculiar needs.According to the Behavioral Theory, juvenile delinquency preventive programs should be based on positive and negative reinforcements. Some of the examples of preventive programs with the use of negative reinforcements are confinement, boot camps and waiver. Although not as restrictive as confinement in a secure facility, boot camps are known for their rigid militaristic style. Juvenile participants are commonly organized into platoons and required to wear uniforms and to participate in daily regimens of drill exercises and physical training. Daily routines may extend from 5:30 or 6:00 A.M. to lights out at 9:00 or 10:00 P.M (Fagan, Zimring, 2001, p. 88). This program is focused upon changing attitudes and behavior through discipline.Another popular program of achieving delinquency prevention or reduction has been waiver of juvenile offenders to adult court. By waiving juveniles to adult court, there is an increased chance that they will come into contact with adult felony offenders and, consequently, after this contact the juvenile should learn to be better.Unlike boot camps and waiver, mentor programs involve mostly positive reinforcements in changing juvenile behavior. Most programs involve volunteer staff who see themselves as giving something to or sharing something with the youths who are being mentored (Colvin, Cullen, Vander Ven, 2002, p. 20) Mentor programs are less costly than other approaches to delinquency prevention because often the mentors are volunteers who may or may not receive reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses related to mentoring activities. As a juvenile justice strategy, mentoring is an opportunity to provide support where it is missing and to supplement it when it is weak.In conclusion, the contributing factors that make a child delinquent are numerous and varied; they are often complexly interwoven in a single case. One single theory cannot explain the complex of conditions and circumstances producing delinquency. Similarly, application of one single preventive program will not significantly reduce juvenile delinquency. Therefore, juvenile delinquency preventive programs should be based upon several theoretical approaches and developed for every particular case of juvenile delinquency.Produced by ProfEssays ( www.professays.com ) - professional custom essay writing service: custom essays, custom term papers, custom academic papers, custom research papers, compositions, book reports, case study. No plagiarism, high quality, prompt delivery.Retrieved from "http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/juvenile-delinquency-theories-67589.html"

Monday, April 19, 2010

Then-U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder sat on the sofa of his fifth-floor office 13 years ago and listened to the young lawyer tell him what needed to change: Prosecutors spent too much time in their offices and the courthouse, and not enough time in the community.

Ronald C. Machen told his future boss in a job interview that they needed to have a regular presence throughout the District by attending community forums, meetings in church basements, youth summits and the like. Waiting until a crime is committed, Holder recalled Machen telling him, was too late to develop relationships.

"He had such fully formed ideas," said Holder, now the country's attorney general. "He knew that it wasn't enough to just show up at a crime scene, but to be there to explain what the office was about in non-stressful times. He had a vision then, and now his time has come."

Machen, 40, has returned to the U.S. attorney's office as its chief after being sworn in as the District's top prosecutor in February.

The District's U.S. attorney job is one of the most coveted in federal law enforcement. As the city's top law enforcement official, the U.S. attorney overseas the largest federal prosecutor's office in the nation, with about 340 lawyers handling local and federal criminal cases.

Most U.S. attorneys handle only federal cases. In the District, the office handles local crimes as well. It also gets some of the country's highest-profile cases because of its status as the nation's capital. Machen's staff, for example, is handling the prosecution of Blackwater security guards accused of shooting civilians in Iraq as well as the investigation into whether star pitcher Roger Clemens lied to Congress about steroid use.ad_icon

Each year, the office handles about 20,000 local cases in Superior Court and about 475 in federal court.

Machen was recommended for the job by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who submitted his name to President Obama. Obama nominated him, and the Senate confirmed him.

Machen has long admired Obama -- since his days at Harvard Law School, where Obama already was a "legend," Machen said. In 2003, Machen was one of the first people to donate to Obama's U.S. Senate campaign, long before he emerged on the national political stage.

Versatile prosecutor

For four years as an assistant U.S. attorney, from 1997 to 2001, Machen worked on a variety of criminal cases, including homicide, fraud and conspiracy. "He was a very aggressive and dogged prosecutor," said Glenn Kirschner, head of the homicide unit for the office and Machen's former supervisor.

Then in summer 2001, Machen left the U.S. attorney's office to build criminal defense experience. He took a job with the firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, specializing in white-collar criminal defense cases involving corporate clients.

Norton says his versatility -- experience with cases involving Fortune 500 companies and inner-city crime -- impressed her. "He has to be able to relate to the community, because you cannot deal with crime in a community if people feel estranged from the U.S. attorney here," Norton said.

Machen elaborated: "I'm comfortable in all environments. I can be at the corner of South Capitol and Atlantic streets at midnight. My goal is to represent all people."

Machen's office has been in the middle of high-profile cases, which resulted in both negative and positive reactions. Last month, a jury found a District man guilty of killing his girlfriend nearly 11 years ago, even though the body of Yolanda Baker has not been found. It is rare to secure a murder conviction when there is no body.

In December, a District man was released from prison after 28 years after DNA tests proved that police and prosecutors had charged the wrong man in a rape and killing. Last April, a D.C. Superior court judge accused one of Machen's prosecutors of ethics violations by withholding evidence from a defense attorney in a murder trial. Both cases are under investigation by Justice Department officials.

The most recent criticism, from police and neighborhood activists, came after the drive-by shooting March 30 in the Washington Highlands neighborhood in Southeast Washington, which left four people dead and six injured.

Machen went to the scene and chatted with police and homicide detectives. But the next day, as news of the identity of one of the suspects surfaced, some officers, including Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, criticized Machen's office. Police had tried to get prosecutors to issue a warrant for Orlando Carter's arrest a week before the shootings because Carter was tentatively identified as a suspect in another fatal shooting March 22. Had Carter been arrested, critics said, the drive-by shooting might have been prevented.

Machen declined to comment on the case but said he was "surprised" by the criticism. Prosecutors said police did not provide them with enough evidence to persuade a judge to sign an arrest warrant for Carter. Just days before the drive-by shooting, both sides had discussed the need for additional evidence at a meeting that included Machen and Lanier at police headquarters.ad_icon

Criticism, Machen said, comes with the job. "It's always a balancing act. Doing this job, you're going to be criticized if you're overly zealous, and you're going to be criticized if you're overly cautious."

Street credibility

Like many prosecutors, Machen shies away from talking about his personal life to keep his family safe. He grew up in Detroit and around the law, watching one of his uncles practice. Machen left Michigan to play wide receiver at Stanford University before graduating and heading to Harvard Law. He's married with kids but won't say much else about his family.

He laughs when he hears of the congresswoman speaking of his "street credibility." But one sign of Machen's nonconformist attitude is evident in his left ear, which is pierced from his days of wearing a diamond stud -- a rarity among U.S. attorneys. "You also don't see too many U.S. attorneys who are Omegas," Machen said, referring to his fraternity, Omega Psi Phi.

Machen said he wants his office to be more visible in the community, and that means sending prosecutors to community forums before meeting when a crime occurs. He gets to as many as seven meetings in a week.

With a busy schedule, Machen realizes he can't make all the meetings to which he's invited. Former Advisory Neighborhood Commission member Kathy Henderson, a representative of Ward 5, was angry that Machen didn't come to an April 7 neighborhood crime meeting. "He didn't have the courtesy to show up. We deserve better than that," Henderson said. Machen's office said he attended seven meetings that week and couldn't get to Henderson's.

Henderson said her concern was that prosecutors have been "very picky" in the cases they pursue. She said the perception among many of her neighbors is that Machen's office prosecutes only those cases it knows it can win.

Machen disputed that. "No one wants to arrest an innocent person, and we have to balance that," he said. "We have to base our decisions on the evidence.

The power struggle between District Attorney Craig Watkins and county commissioners over who should represent the county in lawsuits is continuing, as Attorney General Greg Abbott mulls over which one is right.

The commissioners recently tried to remove Watkins' civil lawyers from a lawsuit against the county. But Watkins has fought back, saying the commissioners have no right to choose the lawyer(s) to defend the county in the case.

Watkins and the commissioners disagree over who is responsible under the law for selecting attorneys to represent the county in lawsuits. The commissioners say they can do it while Watkins says only he can select outside lawyers if the commissioners decide to go that route.

The commissioners recently asked for an attorney general's opinion on the matter. It's still pending.

The lawsuit in question was filed by several affiliated companies that say the county didn't follow competitive bidding requirements when it awarded a $17.3 million records preservation contract last year.

Bob Schell, chief of the DA's civil division, assumed the role of defense attorney for the county as he has countless times in routine legal matters. When the county lost its attempt to get the lawsuit thrown out, commissioners decided to appeal District Judge Bruce Priddy's ruling.

But in an unusual April 7 letter to Schell, the commissioners informed him they were hiring Dallas lawyer Marc Richman to handle the appeal.

"As of today...you are to no longer represent Dallas County in the above-referenced lawsuit," the letter said. "We have engaged Marc Richman as our lawyer and only he will speak and represent Dallas County in this lawsuit. Your services are no longer needed or desired, so cease your representation immediately."

Commissioners did indeed hire Richman.

And nine days later, on April 16, Schell filed a motion asking Richman to appear in court to explain what authority he is using to represent Dallas County in the appeal.

Schell's motion says Richman's representation is a violation of the Texas Local Government Code because Watkins "neither selected Mr. Richman nor determined the terms and duration of his employment."

Schell says in his motion that the DA's Office continued to represent the county in the case until Richman showed up on April 9 saying he was the county's lawyer.

"It is Mr. Watkins' statutory duty to select special counsel to represent Dallas County in any lawsuit brought by or against Dallas County...Mr. Richman has no authority to make an appearance on behalf of Dallas County," Schell said in his motion.

With a $55 million budget shortfall looming and budget talks already underway, this power struggle isn't going to diminish. Watkins fiercely fought budget cuts last year, and he's already indicated he plans to do so again this year.

Commissioners, meanwhile, decided to hire their own lawyer -- former Tarrant County Judge Bob McGrath.